Flowers, mansions and a tv interview!

Day 45, 19 miles, Verona DCA

We take our time getting ready in the morning since we need to go to the post office and it won’t open until 9. Greenleaf packs up the stuff he doesn’t need and has a little baby backpack in front like a real backpacker tourist. That needs to go! Stuff from the flight, stuff he inadvertently packed extras of, and the duffel he used to protect the backpack on the plane.

We walk the rest of the trail back to town through fields of flowers and a nice woodsy section.

After our post office visit we get coffee, a smoothie, and some yummy stuff to eat at the Crossroads coffee house. Then we pass by the IATA headquarters again and take photos with Monty the Mastodont. We fill up water bottles at the water fountain and head over to the quicktrip for some last minute snacks. As I’m paying for my food Greenleaf talks with a lady about our hike and she gives him twenty dollars!

Now we are finally ready to leave town and make some progress again. We walk along the creek and then head up the hill. We are in and out of woods and fields all day with some road walks in between. It’s quite lovely with all the wildflowers in the fields and the shade in the woods. The road sections are more challenging with the bright sun. We use our umbrellas a lot. At some point I get a phone call from a Wisconsin number. I pick up and it’s CBS 27, a Madison tv station! Melissa told them about me and they acted quick! Is it okay if we have someone come out to talk with you in an hour? Uh sure! I give them a place to meet and we continue on.

The reporter drives by and she says I’ll see you down the hill! Sounds good! We head down and promptly miss a turn. Good thing because we would have missed her. She set up a camera at the bottom of the hill and is filming me walking. When we meet up I tell we are not actually on trail and agree to meet at the next trail crossing. We get back on track and meet her a little while later.

Now on trail again, she sets up. I brush my teeth and fix my hair and I’m ready for prime time (or maybe the late evening news haha).

She asks me some questions. I talk a lot. We both hope it’s interesting what I have to say. People will find out the same evening. That’s a quick turn around!

I quickly eat lunch and we continue on. I didn’t get an actual break and I’m getting pretty tired. More wildflowers and a tour of the mansions in the area keeps me awake. Those mansions are beautiful with lots of Windows to take in the views. Gorgeous homes but I wouldn’t want to clean them.

More road and more fields and flowers follow. Greenleaf the botanist is happy.

Towards the end we walk through a golf course and we finally take a good sit down break. It’s funny, we walk through slightly unkempt woods and the golf course is so manicured. We have a few episodes of mosquito swarms and we are very unhappy. I put on my long sleeve shirt and Greenleaf breaks out the DEET. Serenity now!!!

The tent site is in a nice mowed spot surrounded by wildflowers. We love it! There is water and restrooms just a little ways away and we fill up and head back to the site to set up.

We love the three person big Agnes tent because we can just set up the screen tent and be protected from bugs and still see the sunset and the lightning bugs. We reminisce about winter camping and how much easier and more relaxed this is.

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